


A Nameless Memento

by azurefishnets



Category: Final Fantasy VI
Genre: The elephant in the room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22703773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurefishnets/pseuds/azurefishnets
Summary: Prompt: "Honestly, I'd just love to see Strago go off on Shadow for leaving Relm behind while also accepting him into the family"
Relationships: Clyde | Shadow & Strago Magus
Comments: 7
Kudos: 13
Collections: Chocolate Box - Round 5





	A Nameless Memento

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runicmagitek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/gifts).



Interceptor’s head raised, ears sharply pointed; his body tensed against Shadow’s leg, causing the ninja to tense too until he realized it was Strago coming up the stairs to the airship deck. The old man looked determined, his steps firm as he made a beeline for the ninja and his dog.

Shadow looked back at him, allowing the mask to hide his thoughts, but behind it, his face twisted just a little as he wrestled his unruly emotions back into check. He wished they’d left him at the Coliseum sometimes. His world had been steady, unruffled, as he’d drifted into and out of the battles and events that left the others shaken and despairing. Interceptor. Money. And memories he’d firmly stuffed so far beneath a façade that he didn’t even think about her anymore. That was enough. He didn’t want the burden of memory, the emotional responsibility of caring so much about the whole world. Leave that to those who could still feel and leave him to do his work in the dark and be gone again. And yet, here he stood, waiting for an old man with too much, clearly, on his mind.

Strago stopped before him, staring Shadow down. Shadow looked idly back, his hand calming Interceptor at his side.

“You _are_ him. Clyde.” Strago peered at him, the rod he used as cane and weapon both thumping into the deck. “I knew it when I saw you wearing that trinket. That was my daughter’s. You had no right to take it.”

Shadow turned to face the empty skies, tucking the ring he wore on a chain around his neck deeper into his cowl. “I didn’t take anything, old man. This is the one they got from the demon of Doma. Nothing to do with you.”

Strago harrumphed. “And where that thing got it, I suppose we’ll never know.” He raised a bushy eyebrow at Shadow. “I know my daughter’s work when I see it, _Clyde_. She enchanted those two rings herself to only ever be worn by people she wanted to protect. You’re not getting out of this that easily.”

Shadow said nothing, turning to walk below into the airship. “There’s nothing to get out of. Clyde’s dead. _She’s_ dead. I’m just Shadow.”

Strago’s hand shot out and grabbed Shadow’s scarf, unspooling the loosely wound cloth and threatening to uncover his face as the wind whipped around them. Interceptor’s low rumble got louder, but the old man refused to let go. “You left her.”

“She left first.”

“I don’t mean my daughter, you—” Strago’s eyes narrowed. “Relm. You obviously still watch over her. Don’t think I didn’t see what you did back in Thamasa.”

“I was rescuing my dog,” Shadow replied, his tone even. “That your granddaughter was there in the first place was the real shame.” His fist clenched at his side, just a little, and he tried forced himself to relax it. “She runs wild and you allow it. If she needed rescuing that’s on you.”

“She can protect herself,” Strago retorted. “I raised her to be independent, since, you know, she had no parents.”

“So is that why you decided to give yourself over to a cult?” The trembling in his fist grew stronger; Shadow tried to calm himself, pulling at the cloth around his face to try to rearrange it back to safe anonymity.

“I…” Strago’s eyes slid away. “I had no hope left. I couldn’t get to Thamasa and I couldn’t find her…if I’d known at the time her father was still out there, gallivanting around, pretending to be a ninja like a child playing dress-up…”

“Gallivanting around?” Shadow hissed. “She was left with you because you were strong enough to protect her. She didn’t need a magicless, aimless memento of a dead past. She needed someone alive and strong and vital. _Clyde_ left her because he knew she’d have that someone. What’s _your_ excuse, old man?”

“I thought she was—” Strago’s lips trembled. “I thought I’d failed her. She’d been failed by so many… her mother dead, you gone... she asked for you, for years. Did you know that?”

“Well, she had you. I thought.” Shadow took a deep breath. The end of the world had stirred up many things, many demons the world had thought dead. It was a pity his emotions were among them. He’d preferred it when they were gone. He reached a hand up to clutch at the ring. The thing was enchanted to prevent an easy death; perhaps he should have left it to lie untouched so his emotions would stay dead as well. As he disturbed the cloth, the wind finally had its way and whipped away his enshrouding hood, although Strago managed to keep his grip on it.

“It really is you,” Strago breathed, eyes searching the face he’d revealed. “You look terrible.”

“ _Give me my hood_.” The empty man on the deck grabbed for it and after a brief struggle, retrieved it from Strago’s clutching grasp. He wound it round his face again, and when he was done, Shadow stared down Strago, equanimity restored. “There. Questions answered, and no one better for it. You want to ask me anything else, I’ll have to bill you for it.” He turned away.

“You could come back, you know,” Strago said, his voice reedy and weak in the rushing of the wind. “Things are all changed. Relm and you and me…we could change with them.”

Shadow shook his head without turning around. “Nothing’s changed. Everyone’s life I’ve ever touched has been made worse for it. Let one thing come from Clyde’s legacy that isn’t a disaster and leave me alone.” He took a step, and then whipped his head around, glaring at Strago. “But if I ever hear that you abandoned that legacy again, no one will need to pay me for swift justice.”

“I won’t.” Strago stood tall and straight as Shadow walked into the airship, Interceptor trotting at his heels. The old mage turned out to face the full skies, considering their conversation. “…and I won’t let this go either.” He held up his daughter’s ring to the light, the one he couldn’t wear because she’d known he didn’t need her protection. “You’re not nearly as dead as you want to pretend, _Clyde_. My daughter would want you to remember that you must live.” He tucked the ring back into his pocket, intending to give it back to his granddaughter, and headed for the door into the ship’s interior with a shiver.

Shadow waited for a while, then emerged from his namesakes and returned to his post. It didn’t matter what the old man thought. He would do what must be done, and then leave once again, Clyde’s left-behind responsibilities fulfilled and he a nameless shadow once more.

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a little more bitter than sweet, but happy Chocolate Box, runicmagitek! Thank you for the prompt and for being such a bastion of the many writing exchanges here!


End file.
